Home » Civil Society » Weather the Dark Storm, Persevere for Rule of Law in China — A 2019 New Year’s Message From the China Human Rights Lawyers Group

Weather the Dark Storm, Persevere for Rule of Law in China — A 2019 New Year’s Message From the China Human Rights Lawyers Group

The China Human Rights Lawyers Group, January 1, 2019

2018,
the year of Wuxu (戊戌), is slipping into
history. Over the past 120 years, Wuxu has always been an eventful year. In
1898, four years after China had lost the First Sino-Japanese War, the Hundred
Days’ Reform failed, and six of its chief advocates, among them Tan Sitong (谭嗣同), paid the price in
blood at their public beheading. In 1958, another year of Wuxu, the Great Leap
Forward and the people’s communes was to bring on the world’s greatest famine
that would result in tens of millions of deaths.

Indeed, China in the year 2018 bears little
resemblance to the China of 1958 and 1898. Four decades of economic reform have
seen China’s GDP rise to second place among the world’s nations. At the same
time, there are many deeper issues and structural challenges to face. The
Sino-U.S. trade war, coming as an onslaught from without, represents the
conflict of universal values in China’s troubled integration with international
society. Internally, China has been plagued by serious and chronic social ills
— forced demolition, widespread petitioning, “stability maintenance,” wrongful
charges, and judicial corruption — at the heart of which lie the inescapable
questions concerning rule of law, constitutional government, freedom, and
democracy.

Though
the circumstances differ, the three years of Wuxu in the last 120 years share
one common trait: societal change. And the underlying change is one of
transition, from the closed society and “rule by man” (人治, as opposed to rule of law)
to an open society, governed by law, that respects the rights of its citizens.

The
process of taming power with rights is a long and painful one. Indeed, China
has yet to complete its “great shift unseen over the past 3,000 years” (三千年来未有之大变局) described by the
late-Qing minister Li Hongzhang (李鸿章)
in his desperate attempts to right the ship of state.

2018 saw the outbreak of the Changsheng vaccine scandal, which
once again tested the deteriorating moral of Chinese society. We loathe
unscrupulous corporations that sacrifice everything for profit, even at the
cost of endangering public safety; we abhor even more the authorities, who take
taxpayers’ money but fail to perform their duties. The vaccine scandal is the
latest of many chilling reminders that we are still far, far away from
efficient and uncorrupt administration; and that a comprehensive market economy
governed by law has continued to elude us.

This year, we have witnessed a number of laws
drafted or amended, including the Constitution, Supervision Law, Criminal
Procedure Law, Police Law, Law of the People’s Republic of China on the
Protection of Heroes and Martyrs, Regulation on Religious Affairs, and the
like. Put together, they evidence an alarming trend: the government continues
to expand its power and suppressing individual rights.

This year, human rights lawyers have suffered
another wave of crackdown following the 709 mass arrests of 2015. This time,
the crackdown has been more deceptive and underhanded, making use of
administrative channels to restrain practitioners of law.
Lawyers saw their licenses suspended or revoked. Some were forced to
temporarily discontinue their legal practices, submit to investigation,
experienced troubles in their annual administrative inspections, or met with
interference from the judicial and administrative authorities that prevented
their re-employment by other law firms.

In 2018, we have seen increases in willful use
of police summons and arbitrary disappearances.

Dong
Yaoqiong (董瑶琼), a woman from
Hunan, disappeared without a trace and later ended up in a psychiatric
hospital. Another three young women — Shen Mengyu (沈梦雨), a master’s graduate at
Zhongshan University who participated in the Jasic labor rights protest; Yue
Xin (岳昕), a graduating
senior at the Peking University who also voiced her support for Jasic workers,
and Yang Shuhan (杨舒涵), a current student
at the Renmin University — have been either disappeared or silenced. These
young women have stood out with their kindheartedness, determination,
independence and courage.

The “re-education centers” in Xinjiang have
attracted international condemnation. Without any doubt, these mass violations
of personal freedom fly in the face of the human rights guaranteed in the
Chinese Constitution. They must be ended.

We have observed more and more incidents of
police checking identification or phones at will, or engaging in other so
called “law enforcement” activities that are in fact gross violations of human
rights. We have also seen police carry out illegal acts, such as breaking into
residents’ homes for inspection, summoning individuals on an arbitrary basis,
or violently dispersing migrant workers. These acts have left us feeling
fearful and apprehensive.

Renowned
dissident Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) was given yet
another severe sentence, and Ms. Xu Qin (徐秦) was unlawfully detained for
months. We have also seen a deluge of farcical trials in the cities of Suzhou
and Fuzhou against citizens who sought to defend their rights, and reprisals or
abuse against civil rights activists who refused to plead guilty, such as Ge
Jueping (戈觉平), Wu Qihe (吴其和), and Zhu Chengzhi (朱承志).

Following the terror of 709 crackdown, Mr. Xu Lin (徐琳) in Guangzhou wrote songs to
rally morale and has been imprisoned since; Liu Feiyue (刘飞跃), Zhen Jianghua (甄江华), and Sun Lin (孙林) were punished for
citizen journalism. We saw how the 85-year-old mother of another citizen journalist Huang Qi (黄琦) desperately sought
support far and near after her son was framed and charged with “provoking
quarrels,” and how Zhang Pancheng (张盼成),
a security guard at Peking University who came from a humble family, began to
speak of an awareness of rights that few students seem to care about or dare to
voice.

We have borne witness to the abhorrent
behavior of a policeman surnamed Chen working at the Hualin Police Station in
Guangzhou, who stripped the clothes off female lawyer Sun Shihua (孙世华) under the pretext of “law
enforcement.” We have seen the incident treated with the cover-ups typical of
bureaucracies such as the procuratorate, supervision commission, disciplinary
inspection, judicial administration, and lawyers’ association, as well as the
arrogance of the Liwan police, who instead of going after the culprit, issued
administrative penalties to Sun Shihua the victim. We feel pain and
helplessness at her plight, yet deep in our hearts is the firm belief that Chen
and the officials shielding him will eventually have their shameful acts
recorded in the annals of China’s legal history.

At year’s end, WeChat accounts were deleted en
masse, Twitter users were forced to delete
their feeds and accounts, and freedom of speech in general is coming under more
vicious attacks in China. Religious freedom has also suffered, as most recently
evidenced by the sudden arrests of Early Rain Covenant Church members
in Chengdu, Sichuan, among many other incidents.

The
day after Christmas, Tianjin No.2 Intermediate People’s Court held a closed
trial of lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋)
citing state secrets, eschewing all pretenses of law. This forms a sharp
contrast to the creative protest of the 709 wives—Li Wenzu (李文足), Wang Qiaoling (王峭岭), Yuan Shanshan (原珊珊), and Xu Yan (许艳). Their slogan “We
can be hairless, but you can’t be lawless” will become a legal maxim for the
ages. [发, hair, has a similar
sound to 法, law]

2018, this year of Wuxu, was a year filled
with extreme challenges.

What’s to be done? Shall we cower the corner
and find solace in temporary efforts, or shall we confront the reality and
pursue the rule of law regardless how the storm of tyranny rages? We are
faulted and accused at every turn, thwarted before even taking a single step.
Yet as pioneers of our time, we must march on, making the best of the
situation. Like the sun and moon moving on their celestial courses, like rivers
flowing to the ocean, we stand firm in our conviction that constitutional
government, democracy and human rights will become reality in the face of
adversity. The ideal of rule of law is our motivation and what keeps us from
despair.

Because
of our ideals, human rights lawyers didn’t shy away from pressure and continued
to defend Qin Yongmin,Tashi Wangchuk (扎西文色), Huang Qi, Jin Zhehong (金哲宏) and other cases deemed
politically sensitive. For us human rights lawyers, there are only legal cases,
and there are no such thing as “sensitive cases.”

In
2019, four years after the 709 crackdown, we will welcome the release from
prison of two human rights lawyers, Tang Jingling (唐荆陵) and Jiang Tianyong (江天勇).

In
2019, we hope to see the freedom of another four human rights lawyers: Wang
Quanzhang, Yu Wensheng, Li Yuhan (李昱函),
and Chen Wuquan (陈武权). Whether in terms
of Chinese law or international conventions, there’s no legal ground for the
accusations they face.

We hope that the laws on the books can be
followed, and not manipulated by those in power.

We hope that no more human rights lawyers find
their practicing licenses revoked for any excuse.

We hope to put an end to the arbitrary
summons, detentions, forcible disappearances, and other gangster tactics
employed by the authorities. We hope that police can exercise self-control and
refrain from acting on their whims. We request that police officer Chen at
Hualin Police Station turn himself in, that the Guangzhou police remove him
from his post, and that he face a penalty appropriate to his misdeed.

Going into 2019, we look forward to the
vindication of moe, and hopefully all wrongful charges. We hope that an
effective mechanism can be established to eliminate and correct unjust rulings.
We hope that “picking quarrels” and “extorting government” will no longer be
used as grounds for prosecuting petitioners and human rights activists. These
charges are absurd, unreasonable, and an assault on the rule of law. While
these actions of the authorities may have some immediate suppressive effect, in
the long run it will serve only to intensify conflicts between the government
and the governed. The consequences will be disastrous.

The life mission of any lawyers is to uphold
justice in their cases. We as human rights lawyers will continue to practice,
representing all kinds of clients, including those deemed politically
sensitive. We will use our work to promote the causes of constitutional
government and rule of law. We face many storms ahead and the path is fraught
with peril and uncertainty. Yet we forge on, duty-bound to the mission of
justice. There is no going back! Our determination in the face of impossible
odds will drive us forward, persevere through the storm for the sake of a
better China. This is the choice we made, our predestination and mission.

Hello, 2019!

The China Human Rights Lawyers Group

December 31, 2018

The China Human Rights Lawyers Group was founded on September
13, 2013. It is an open platform for cooperation. Since its founding, members
of the group have worked together to protect human rights and promote the rule
of law in China through issuing joint statements and representing human rights
cases. Any Chinese lawyer who shares our human rights principles and is willing
to defend the basic rights of citizens is welcome to join. We look forward to
working with you.

Contacts:

Lawyer He Wei (何伟), Tel: 18523069266

Lawyer Lin Qilei (蔺其磊), Tel:
13366227598

Lawyer Shi Ping (施平), Tel: 15515694755

Lawyer Wang Qingpeng (王清鹏), Tel: +1
(425)7329584

Lawyer Xie Yang (谢阳), Tel: 18673190911

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[…] This year, human rights lawyers have suffered another wave of crackdown following the 709 mass arrests of 2015. This time, the crackdown has been more deceptive and underhanded, making use of administrative channels to restrain practitioners of law. [FULL STORY] […]